Police said they went to Mi Pueblo because emergency dispatchers received 911 calls from witnesses reporting that a man was chasing shoppers and attacking them with a knife on East Alisal Street and Sanborn Road.

"(The) 911 Communications Center received several calls from different people reporting a man chasing people in the area and waving a large knife," the Salinas Police Department wrote in a press release.

A witness told KSBW that Hernandez was intoxicated and had walked to the shopping center from a nearby bar, Bar Rio.

When police arrived and Hernandez refused to drop the knife, police shot him with a Taser.

Despite being Tased, and while officers were trying to put the man in handcuffs, police said Hernandez was able to pull a large knife out of his pants and attempted to slash officers.

The two officers shot Hernandez multiple times and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

One witness told KSBW that Hernandez was on the ground and stunned from the Taser when police shot him at least four times.

The manager of Bar Rio, Delia Luevano, said Hernandez worked as a lettuce field worker and had a knife with him because he needed it for cutting lettuce.

"Everything the police said I don't think it right," Luevano said. "He was a real nice person, no problems. The police shot him after he was on the floor."

Police, on the other hand, said the officers felt like their lives were in danger.

"While officers were trying to apply handcuffs to the suspect, he pulled up his shirt clearly exposing a large knife that was tucked into the area of his waistband. Quickly, the suspect grabbed the knife and pulled it out towards the officers who were in close proximity to him while attempting to restrain him. At this time, two of the involved officers fired their service weapons at the suspect fearing that they were going to be stabbed. The suspect died at the scene," the press release stated.

The shopping center was shut down for several hours Friday. The two officers who killed Hernandez will be placed on administrative leave for at least one week.

Salinas resident Daniel Castillo was shopping at Mi Pueblo when it reopened Monday.

"The policeman has a job he's got to do and his first job is to protect the community. And we have to respect that," Castillo said. "Sometimes they have to react at a second’s notice. I’m sure that it bothers them to take somebody’s life. I’m sure it does."